Advent
by Tim Nolan
Summary: Part 3 of a trilogy of stories centered on the Outer Senshi. These are manga based stories.


Advent {1/1}  
  
  
A Sailor Moon story by Tim Nolan  
e-mail: nomad@cyberverse.com  
  
Please see comments following the story.  
  
This is part of a trilogy of stories about   
the Outer Senshi. The correct order they   
should be read in is  
1. Aftermath  
2. Intermezzo  
3. Advent   
  
These are based on the manga and not the anime.  
  
*************  
  
  
  
Advent  
part three of a trilogy of Outer Senshi stories  
  
  
  
" You're letting them go?"   
Uranus' angry shout shattered the contemplative   
quiet of the throne room as she stormed in past the   
guards who had vainly tried to stop her. Her voice   
almost broke from her disbelief. Neptune followed a   
step behind, cool anger etched on her features but   
with rage in her eyes.   
The prisoners turned towards the two women,   
remembering the stories circulated by some of the   
survivors. Their air of hopelessness and defeat   
shifted towards fear, especially on the lower ranking   
ones. The leaders, more used to political machinations   
and careful subtleties, only betrayed their worries   
by a slight tightening of facial features, or perhaps   
a more guarded look in their eyes.   
Up on the dais, the Neo-Queen rose from her   
seat. The motion swung the attention of everyone to   
her, as had been the purpose of her husband's design   
for the room. He himself moved to stand just behind   
her and to her right. All four of the Inner Senshi   
stepped forward from the base of the dais to interpose   
themselves between the monarch and the two women. It   
was an instinctive movement, as were the readying   
of weapons by the guard.  
" They are to be exiled, Uranus," Serenity   
replied, carefully keeping her voice under   
control. " You know the reasons why we must do this."   
" They don't deserve mercy!" Neptune responded   
and ripped a patch from the shoulder of one of the   
prisoners as she walked past them in order to brandish   
it at the Queen. It was in the shape of a black   
crescent, worn so that it opened downwards in a   
direct mockery of the golden crescent moon on the   
Queen's forehead. " Not after what they've done. I   
can see your reasons for exiling him, but not   
these. Their miserable little lives aren't even   
enough to begin to balance the scales!"  
" We don't have any direct proof that the   
Black Moon forces were responsible for Pluto's   
disappearance," Mercury offered. Pity was plain   
on the faces of the Inners at the suffering their   
colleagues were obviously going through. That same   
look was echoed by the two monarchs.   
" Proof?" Uranus echoed Mercury's words, her   
voice incredulous. " They said they did it! They   
admitted it!"  
" Would you trust someone whose stock in   
trade was deceit?" Mars quietly asked.   
" I don't care!" the tall woman shouted and   
clenched her fist. Wisps of yellow energy crackled   
upwards from the floor to surround that hand.   
" Uranus, we will discuss this later," the   
Queen began.  
" No, not later," the Senshi barked, openly   
defying the Queen. The energies about her hand began   
to glow more strongly.   
" Uranus," Serenity replied, her voice dropping   
to a dangerously low tone. The Senshi responded by   
thrusting her hand up into the air and taking hold   
of the ringed sphere that suddenly and fully formed   
in her grip. Uranus spun on her heel and brought her   
arm down with a wordless scream of frustration.   
The far end of the throne room, along with   
most of the antechamber beyond and the main gate to   
the Crystal Palace vanished in the wake of the attack   
in a scream of broken crystal. Uranus remained there,   
tears flowing down her face.  
" They killed her!" she cried out, pointing at   
the slab of featureless black obsidian that was the   
most recent addition to the plaza. Her voice was   
steady for the first part, but rapidly trailed off   
into sobbing as she slumped to her knees. " They   
killed our daughter!"   
  
************************************************   
  
" There," the Queen said and opened her   
eyes. Her husband gently wiped away a bead of sweat   
that had formed on her forehead in response to her   
efforts. " The supports and foundation weren't   
damaged except in one place, and I've repaired   
that. The work crews should be able to take care   
of the rest."   
" I just wish our other problems were so easily   
solved," Endymion admitted as he took her arm and   
walked with her to their private elevator. A few   
moments later, they dismissed the lone guard from   
his post and were on their way to the top of the   
Crystal Palace. " I told them to meet us upstairs."   
" Can we blame anyone for being bitter, let   
alone them?" she wondered, half to herself and half   
to him. " I never dreamed that we would lose so   
many people, Mamo-chan."   
" I know, Usako," he replied, slipping into   
their old nicknames for each other that they had   
used publicly until their recent coronation six   
months past. He put his arms around her and held   
her until they reached their private quarters. Once   
there, they stopped briefly to change out of their   
regalia and into much plainer and more comfortable   
clothes before going upstairs. It was as much for   
the Queen as it was for the two they would be   
talking to.   
The two Senshi had made tea, and each was   
holding a cup while sitting together on one of the   
couches by a window in the sitting room at the top   
of the tower. Both began to get up when they came   
in, but the man caught a brief, furtive glance by   
Neptune to something off to his left, and he realized   
that Pluto's staff was still leaned up against the   
white marble pedestal that the detached Garnet Orb   
sat on, cushioned by a small black velvet pillow.   
" Michiru, Haruka, would you like to talk about   
it?" the Queen asked, setting the tone and subtly   
indicating with her words and their choice of clothes   
that this was not a meeting between a ruler and her   
subjects, but rather a gathering of friends. Haruka   
nodded in reply as the two Senshi reversed their   
transformations before sitting back down.   
" I'm sorry that we haven't had much time for   
any of you," Mamoru began as he helped Usagi sit down   
and then sat down next to her on the other part of   
the L shaped couch.   
" We know, Mamoru-san," Michiru replied,   
beginning to relax. " It has been a very busy time   
for all of us lately."   
" I shouldn't have defied you like that,   
Usagi-san," Haruka added.   
" Usagi-san?" the Queen softly responded,   
emphasizing the syllable and caught Haruka's gaze   
until the other blonde finally began to smile a   
little bit at the grin the Queen was giving   
her. " Not odango-atama?"  
" I've been acting like the child today,   
Usagi-san," Haruka went on. " I know full well why   
they have to be exiled to Nemesis along with Death   
Phantom. I just snapped when you didn't tell us that   
you were holding the audience and were going to   
transport them today. I let my anger and my grief   
cloud my thinking."   
" I'm guilty of feeling like that as   
well," Michiru quietly added before Usagi could   
explain her reasons.  
" We hoped to spare you the pain," Usagi   
said. " We still don't think that the Black Moon   
had anything to do with Pluto, but Hotaru-chan was   
another matter entirely. We saw you hurting so much   
over her, and thought that if you weren't there for   
the banishment it wouldn't hurt you as much. There's   
no point in re-opening an old wound.  
" And, speaking of old wounds," she added a   
moment later as her eyes caught a faint tightening   
of Haruka's expression when the tall woman leaned   
forward to put her cup on the table in front of   
her. Usagi stood up, still graceful despite the   
slight swelling of her abdomen and the fatigue of   
three days straight without sleep clearly showing   
in the dark circles under her eyes. " Haruka-san,   
Ami told you not to overexert yourself and I told   
you as well. You ripped open your stitches when you   
did that World Shaking, didn't you?"  
" Yes, she did," Michiru confirmed, stood and   
walked over by the window in order to make a space   
for Usagi to sit next to Haruka. She looked down at   
the plaza while Usagi lay her hands over the partially   
healed trio of scars running in parallel lines across   
Haruka's stomach. The scars and the hands glowed a   
faint yellow for a few minutes.   
" Hotaru's sarcophagus looks so small from up   
here," the turquoise haired woman commented when Usagi   
was done. On the way back to her seat, the Queen   
stopped suddenly, put one of her hands over her   
stomach for a moment and got a puzzled look on her   
face.   
" I think that was a kick," she explained in   
response to the concerned look she got from   
Mamoru. " Or she rolled over. Sometimes she's   
done that in response to my using the Crystal."   
" Rolled over," Haruka quipped with an easier   
smile due to not being in as much pain now. " Of   
course, that is assuming she takes after her mother   
in regards to how much she likes to sleep."   
" Haruka!" Usagi giggled in protest and was   
joined in laughter by the others for a few   
moments. The past three days had been difficult   
for all of them, and this was the first time they   
really had a chance to relax.   
" She's one of the things that we wanted to   
talk to you about," Michiru said after a they settled   
back down. " We would like to know what you are going   
to do with us now that the Small Lady will be born in   
a little while."   
" So you know about that, too," Usagi commented   
and poured a cup of tea for her husband before getting   
one for herself.  
" It wasn't very hard to find out," Haruka   
added. " Your daughter admitted a lot more than she   
should have at times."   
" And it's too late to tell her to not say   
it," Mamoru chuckled, slightly amused at the temporal   
complexities involved until he remembered that   
Setsuna, the person who he liked to discuss them   
with, was no longer with them.   
" Do you want us to stay away from Crystal   
Tokyo?" Haruka quietly asked, her voice weary.   
" Stay away?" Usagi began to protest but her   
voice trailed off as she realized the truth of what   
would have to happen.   
" She can't know about us, Usagi-chan," Michiru   
gently explained. " She can't see us, or any pictures   
of us. The same goes for Hotaru. Why else did I say   
that the marker out front should be for everyone who   
fell in the battle, and not just Hotaru? In my heart,   
that is Hotaru's tomb, and always will be."  
" But... " Usagi stammered, and Mamoru took one   
of her hands in his. " I hate this," the Queen went   
on. " I feel trapped."   
" It isn't just you," Haruka admitted. " We knew   
that we would have to go into hiding of some sorts as   
soon as you gave birth. We thought we could have hid   
among the area around Crystal Tokyo, but... "   
" Nobody thought that we'd only have a six   
hundred survivors," Michiru finished her   
sentence. " And we didn't know that we would be   
alone again. We knew that Pluto was going to be   
in the future, but we expected that all four of us   
would make it."  
" It surprised all of us," Usagi   
admitted. " We've always known that the Crystal   
Tokyo of the far future is devastated by the war   
with the Black Moon family, but we never knew   
anything other than Phantom was going to attack   
now, and that we would win."   
" I don't know if we can be alone together like   
we used to be in the past," Haruka began. " Not after   
we had become like a family in recent years,   
Usagi-san. I don't want to be alone anymore."   
" We have our castles, of course," Michiru   
pointed out. " But we don't think that we can stay   
in them for almost a thousand years."  
" We don't want you to have to do that,   
Michiru-san," Mamoru said. " You are right in   
saying that we do have to make sure that Chibi-usa   
doesn't know who you or Hotaru-chan are. I'm glad   
that you and Setsuna decided to not let Hotaru-chan   
be exposed to the media like the rest of us were at   
the coronation. That will be a big help in the times   
to come."  
" You aren't going to be exiled," Usagi   
confirmed. " I don't know what we are going do yet,   
but I am not going to send you away from us." She   
carefully looked each of the other women in the eye   
and went on in a much sadder voice. " You are as   
much of our family now as the Inners, and I am not   
going to send my family away. I lost my first family   
in this time already, and I am not going to lose   
you now. Do you understand me?"   
" Yes," Michiru replied, her voice growing   
thick. Haruka mutely nodded, unable to say   
anything. " Thank you," she whispered as the couple   
stood while Mamoru motioned for them to remain.   
" Michiru-san, I'll need to talk to you in the   
morning," Usagi murmured. " But for now, you both   
need some rest. Feel free to stay up here if you   
wish."   
  
************************************************  
  
" Your Majesty?"  
" I'm sorry that I had to have you woken up,   
Michiru," the Queen said when the woman stifled a   
yawn upon entering the bedroom. The blonde pointed   
over towards a tray with coffee and tea. Ami sat   
next to it, writing on a pad of paper. " A survivor   
of the poison gas was located early this morning, and   
Endymion feels that we can find more now that he's   
been able to see a survivor. We're going to link up   
and try looking for others."   
" Oh, no you're not," Ami announced as she   
finished entering some information into her computer   
and walked over by Serenity. " Not until I finish your   
check-up and you get a solid meal into you, Usagi-chan."  
" Will you be needing all our powers for   
this?" Michiru asked before the Queen could object   
to what Ami had said. The blonde shook her head and   
began to get up until Mercury's hand gently pushed   
her back down onto the bed.  
" No, they won't," Ami replied. " Endymion-sama   
said that the ones who weren't killed are only asleep,   
so they should be all right for the half hour it will   
take him to get back here before you two can do   
anything.   
" Usagi-chan, you are pregnant and can't run   
around like this using the Crystal to keep yourself   
going all the time. I still don't think that the   
using the Crystal will harm the baby, but if you   
don't get enough food and sleep you will hurt her."   
" I'll make sure she eats while we   
talk," Michiru offered as she handed a robe to   
Serenity, who was finally allowed to sit up and   
pull it on over her nightgown. " It's four months   
already, and you hardly show, Usagi-chan."   
" That's because she was too skinny to begin   
with," Ami glared at her old friend for a moment   
over the dispute they had been having ever since   
they found out that the Queen was expecting. " I'll   
be at the hospital ward if you need me. My shift   
starts in a few minutes."   
" Thank you, Ami-chan," Serenity said to her   
friend, who gave them a hesitant smile before   
leaving. " She has one of the worst burdens right   
now," she commented to Michiru and sat down to   
eat. The other woman openly laughed as the blonde   
got a somewhat worried look on her face at the sight   
of the food.   
" Poor Usagi-chan," she said a few moments   
later as she poured herself a cup of tea and sat   
across the table from Serenity. " Your vaunted   
appetite has finally met its match, ne?"  
" Michiru!" she complained good-naturedly and   
began to eat, knowing all the while that the other   
woman was right, and there was no point in fighting   
it anymore. Morning sickness, nausea and a loss of   
appetite were simply part of what she was going   
through.  
" Ami-chan does have a lot of work, though. There   
is only one other person who has any formal medical   
training, and Ami is the only real doctor we   
have. However, I don't think that Ami's duties are   
the only reason you summoned me her so suddenly."   
" No, it isn't," she replied around a bite of   
rice. " You're still my political advisor,   
Michiru-san. I don't fully know what I did when I   
stopped Phantom's spell, but we still have a few   
billion people and hundreds of governments to deal   
with when we do wake them up. Our losses in the   
last attack guarantee that waking up the others   
has to be the top priority."   
" Six hundred people aren't enough to form   
a viable population base," the older woman   
concurred. " Until yesterday we had more prisoners   
captive then we had people on our side to guard them."   
" I was not merciful to them, Michiru,"   
Serenity admitted. " Nemesis is hell. I've seen   
it, I've banished them to it, and they did not   
get mercy from us. The lucky ones perished at   
our hands, and now it is time for us to rebuild.  
" What I was hoping is that you would think   
about some ways to speed the acceptance of Crystal   
Tokyo as the new governing body for the world. It   
will take many years of work to repair the damage   
done to the ecosphere, and we are not going to be   
able to do it with all the old rivalries and their   
anger at us combined."   
" What exactly did you do, Serenity? You   
haven't had the chance to tell us the details   
yet. We've been so busy with other things," Michiru   
asked.  
" Phantom was draining the life force from   
the whole planet," the blonde explained as a tear   
slipped past her control and rolled down one cheek   
when she remembered the events of that day. " That   
was his main source of power, but he had never done   
anything on such a scale before, nor had he ever   
drained anything other than humans. The single   
celled creatures were the first to begin to die,   
and then the plants and insects. They don't have   
as much life force to spare as a human.   
" Endymion realized that if we didn't stop   
him then, we could not recover. Without all those   
creatures, we could never grow the food we needed   
to keep the human populace alive, even if we did   
stop his spell."   
" And that is when you linked up with him and   
the Inners?" Michiru volunteered, and Serenity nodded   
in reply. " When you said that we were the last line   
of defense, you weren't joking."   
" No, I wasn't," the Queen went on. " We kept   
up the barrier so that the Black Moon forces had to   
go through you, but that was all we could spare. Ami   
explained her theory, we linked up and tried to stop   
him. She credits you for the idea, by the way."   
" Ara, Serenity-sama. Ami-chan already had it   
figured out," Michiru blushed faintly and deflected   
the praise away from her. " Ami's theories were   
sound. One of my questions simply jogged her memory,   
that's all."   
" Well, if you have any more questions, she   
says to not be afraid to ask," Serenity smiled back,   
unwilling to let her dodge the compliment. Typical   
Michiru, she thought to herself. She had started the   
day upset, and now she was smiling thanks to the   
woman.   
" I'm not really sure of how I did it," she   
went on a few moments later, returning to the topic   
they had been discussing. " Since he was using life   
force to power his spells, I think I somehow   
understood that if nobody could give off any life   
force, he couldn't make use of it.   
" It was probably something that Endymion was   
thinking and I picked up on due to our link together,   
but that is the basis of what I acted on. Princess   
Kaguya's snow dancers had frozen all those people and   
they survived once we had stopped her, so I knew it   
was possible to do. The next thing I know, I had done   
it. Without his power, he was easier for me to stop   
and I exiled him to Nemesis while I had the chance."   
" So, crop failures and widespread ecological   
damage is what we should expect then?" Michiru asked,   
steering the conversation away from what had happened   
while Serenity was casting her spell over the   
planet. That was still very painful to think about.   
" Yes, that seems to be Endymion and Mercury's   
consensus. I spared Tokyo proper since it had the   
industry and people to be able to support the rest   
of Japan as a starting point for waking up the rest   
of the world, but that... won't work now."   
The older woman winced inside. Serenity still   
blamed herself in some ways for the loss of life in   
Tokyo, but it had been the Black Moon forces who gassed   
the city as a last ditch effort to beat Crystal Tokyo. A   
metropolitan area with a population of millions had   
become a literal ghost town in moments.   
" You didn't kill them, Usagi-chan," she carefully   
explained. " They did it to try and kill you, and they   
didn't care about who got in their way. You were not at   
fault."  
" Thank you, Michiru-san," she smiled and reached   
across the table to gratefully squeeze the other woman's   
hand for a moment. " It helps when somebody else tells   
me that."  
" You're welcome," she smiled back. " Your basic   
idea for the revival process is sound, especially   
because of your status with the Japanese people since   
the Emperor gave you his backing when he abdicated in   
favor of you. We might want to try the United States   
as well. They have the resources and the infrastructure   
to feed most of the other nations of the world once the   
damage to their agricultural base is repaired."   
" I get the vague idea that you're going to   
suggest the carrot and the stick method of getting   
them to work with us, Michiru," Serenity frowned. " I   
don't want to have to use threats to get them to   
co-operate with us, not if we can help it."  
" Crystal Tokyo is supposed to become a paradise,   
Serenity. People should not be starving in the streets   
of paradise, and it won't happen in Crystal Tokyo," she   
explained and faintly smiled, a determined grin that   
did not bode well for any politician who would choose   
to stand in her way. " We don't have to tell them that,   
however. They'll think of it on their own well enough."   
" You are evil sometimes, Michiru-san," she   
giggled again as Endymion strode into the   
room. " Mamo-chan, that was quick!"   
" A few construction workers got together   
and started clearing some roads with a forklift   
where necessary," he explained and hugged his wife   
when she came over to him.  
" So that explains the leathers, then," Michiru   
pointed out his clothes with a sly look in her   
eyes. " Nobody on the roads to get in the way of   
your motorcycle, ne?"   
" Guilty as charged," he admitted with a   
chuckle. " We'd best be getting started, love," he   
said to the blonde.   
" I'll leave you two in private, then," Michiru   
said, rose to her feet and left the room. The couple   
hugged again before going to and sitting together in   
a couch and linking their hands, minds, hearts and   
power together.  
  
***********************************************   
  
" Let's get a move on it!" Uranus bellowed,   
waved to the people behind them and ran down the   
street, Jupiter a step behind. Back the way they   
came, a man and woman were trying to navigate a   
commandeered JSDF jeep around some stopped cars by   
the motorcycle that had finally ran out of gas. The   
two Senshi could hear the intermittent wail of an   
ambulance siren as it made its way towards them.   
" Up ahead on the left," Jupiter told her,   
listening to the directions from the radio she   
carried. " Damn, it's the one on the corner that   
collapsed."   
" In other words, we have to do this the hard   
way," Uranus growled and skidded to a stop in front   
of the building. Jupiter stopped and began to take   
deep breaths in order to calm herself while Uranus   
waved the jeep back away from them. " No more guitar   
amplifiers, ne?"  
" Oh, shut up," the brunette laughingly   
responded. " How was I to know he was a guitar   
nut? Stereo speakers come in pairs, so when I got   
one pattern of electrical interference, I assumed   
it was a person. At least we didn't have to dig   
our way in that time."   
" Well, we're going to have to do it here," the   
blonde replied, looking at the building and the car   
that had taken out one corner. The Black Moon had   
released the poison gas into the city in the early   
morning hours, so there had not been too much traffic   
on the streets. That had not prevented some of the   
moving vehicles from going out of control. " Knowing   
our luck recently, it will be someone in the   
collapsed portion. I don't smell any propane or   
natural gas, so there shouldn't be any problem from   
sparks."   
" Here," Jupiter said and handed the radio to   
Uranus. " I'm still not very good at this, and the   
radio gets in the way," she explained and closed her   
eyes. She extended her hands and let a spark of green   
energy begin to dance back and forth between them. A   
moment later, it had become a solid, jagged line that   
flickered as she shifted them back and forth. It   
flickered once at one point, and again on the   
return swing.   
" I got it," the blonde shouted loudly enough   
for Jupiter to hear it in her trance and began to   
begin to pull away some of the pieces of wood. Jupiter   
helped her start on the larger ones, their strength   
as Senshi allowing them to handle the larger beams   
that would have taken several men or a small   
forklift. It wasn't the best or safest method to   
find someone trapped, but it was the quickest, and   
they knew they had to hurry.   
The two others got there a few minutes later   
after clearing a path for the ambulance. Together,   
they were able to eventually locate the sole   
survivor. She had been pinned under a beam that   
must have fallen when the out of control car hit   
the house. The beam hadn't crushed her, having formed   
a relatively safe area. She would have been trapped   
there without help, however.   
" Pulse low, breathing weak and steady," the   
man said as the two Senshi lifted the beam enough for   
the other two people to get to the girl.   
" No bones appear to be broken. Probably just   
cuts from glass," the woman volunteered. " It should   
be okay to pull her out."   
" Do it," Jupiter replied and grunted as she   
strained to lift her end up high enough to give Uranus   
the room to work and shifted her grip at the same   
time. Uranus released her hold at the brunette's   
terse nod, stepped back and drew out the Space Sword.  
One slash later, the beam was cut and able   
to be moved away, and they were able to get her   
out and laid upon a blanket as the ambulance pulled   
up.   
" How is it going?" Jupiter asked the driver   
as she leaned against the side of the vehicle in   
order to rest a moment from her efforts. The unusually   
delicate application of her powers to sense a   
person's inherent electrical field was more   
draining than the lifting, and this was their   
eighth house already.   
" Pretty good," he smiled back and handed   
her a can of iced coffee. " Mars' team is moving   
to another location right now," he added as he moved   
to the back of the ambulance and helped the other   
driver take out a stretcher for the girl they had   
rescued.   
" Facial cuts are the worst, I think," Uranus   
commented as she joined Jupiter in taking a brief   
break. " She had a few blood vessels in her eyes   
that burst, but mainly she's looking good. Age about   
seven or eight, I think, but it's hard to tell with   
all the dirt and grime from being trapped in there   
for three days."   
" Nobody else?" Jupiter asked hopefully,   
remembering the loss of her own parents while she   
was growing up.   
" No," Uranus softly replied and gave the   
other Senshi a quick hug. She knew about what had   
happened to Makoto in the past as well, and that   
the fate of the girl they just rescued would be   
bothering Jupiter. " You have a new family,   
remember. Be strong, Mako-chan," she   
whispered. " She'll be taken care of, too."  
" We're ready to roll!" the ambulance   
driver called out and started the vehicle. The   
girl would be taken back to the palace and   
medical care, and the crew would be off to go   
pick up someone else, assuming that more survivors   
were found by the monarchs. The two Senshi stepped   
away from the ambulance as it pulled away.   
" We'd better check in," Jupiter decided as   
she took the radio back and began trying to contact   
Neptune at the palace. The other Outer Senshi was   
handling the co-ordination of the rescue efforts   
while Mercury was tending to the ones who were   
being found. Mars and Venus had their own teams   
and were handling the areas closest to the palace   
while she and Uranus had more area to cover and   
were teamed up together along with four other drivers.   
" Here's some gas," the woman they were   
currently with said as she handed over a large   
can that sloshed. " We filled them up at a station   
that still had working pumps."   
" Great!" Uranus smiled and got a lift back to   
her motorcycle, which was how she and Jupiter were   
getting around so quickly, leapfrogging from survivor   
to survivor and supervising their teams' efforts.   
" How are you doing, Mako-chan?" Neptune quietly   
asked as she called back in to see if they had a new   
location for them yet. The brunette finished the   
coffee, sighed and tossed the can into a garbage can   
before replying.   
" I'm getting by, Michiru-san," she said. " Uranus   
looks like she's out for a morning jog, but I'm tired."   
" She likes to be out and doing things," Neptune   
said and Jupiter could easily see the smile that must   
have been on her face right then. " It's better for   
her right now to be active, anyway. We're getting a   
new location for you, but it will take a few moments   
to get it tightened up. It's to the northwest of   
your location, but we don't know how far yet."   
" Sorcery isn't an exact science, ne?" Jupiter   
giggled back.   
" Not yet. We do have some good news,   
though," the other woman went on a moment later   
after chuckling as well. " Venus' team found a   
total of seven survivors at some kind of a boy's   
school reunion. The one who we could wake up is a   
doctor."   
" A doctor! That is good news. Ami will be   
thrilled."   
" He's already agreed to help us out. The   
others are his wife, child, brother and a few   
students. We're getting some extra ambulances over   
there to bring them in, and Ami is happy to hear   
that news.  
" Oh, and one more thing, Mako-chan," Neptune   
playfully added. " Minako-chan wanted me to tell you   
that two of the students are really cute."   
" That sounds like her," Jupiter groaned as   
Uranus got the motorcycle started and came towards her.  
" You mean it finally sounds more like   
her," Neptune corrected her. " She's been taking   
this whole situation quite hard as well. It is   
good to hear her acting more like herself, even   
if that comment about the two guys was the very   
last thing she said before going off to another   
location."   
" You're right as usual, Michiru-san," Jupiter   
admitted and stopped as she heard someone calling   
to the other woman in the background.   
" We've got it partially narrowed   
down," Neptune came back a few moments later   
on. " It's going to be out a ways, so get on the   
expressway. Serenity said that it feels like it's   
right up against the stasis zone's edge, so please   
be careful."   
" We will be," Jupiter said, going cold at the   
thought. Whether the rest of the world outside of   
the Tokyo area was frozen by low temperatures or   
frozen in time was something they didn't fully know   
yet. The one man who had tried going to his family   
just outside the radius was still standing there,   
stuck in mid-stride with a look of surprise on his   
face as he glanced backwards. Another thought   
occurred to her.  
" How are we fixed on time?" she   
added. " Serenity has been keeping her other   
spell up a long time, and she's going to have   
to start freezing the place soon to keep the   
corpses from rotting and spreading disease."   
" They're being stubborn about that," Neptune   
admitted, her concern clearly showing in her   
voice. " They both insist that they will keep   
the bodies from decaying long enough for us to   
rescue all the survivors. Then, and only then   
will they start dropping the temperatures of   
Crystal Tokyo so they can cancel the preservation   
spell."  
" Shimatta," the brunette growled. Serenity   
was right in that they couldn't let anyone who was   
still alive die due to their not trying all the   
possible ways to find them, but the simple fact   
was that they had millions of corpses to deal with   
as well. The easiest way to keep Crystal Tokyo   
locked in a winter freeze, but that would kill   
anyone who was still alive but unconscious. It   
was unusually warm for this early in February,   
which helped their work right now by keeping people   
alive. " Her safety comes before her ethics, but I   
don't see any way to make her change her mind on this."   
" Would you have her acting any other   
way?" Neptune replied.   
" No," she sighed and took a seat behind   
Uranus on the motorcycle. " We're off, Neptune. We'll   
check back in about five minutes from now to see   
if you have a better fix."   
  
************************************************  
  
They smiled at each other as they went into   
Mercury's office and found her sprawled in her chair,   
head tilted back and dozing. It was understandable,   
after all. She had been the only one to be able to   
properly take care of the wounded until a few hours   
ago. Upon the other doctor getting there and beginning   
to work, the Queen had ordered Mercury to rest. That   
had been about ten hours ago.   
" Ami," Michiru whispered and gently shook the   
young woman's shoulder. " Ami."  
" Huh?" she said, groggily coming awake. " Forgive   
me," she blushed and hastily sat up in her chair. " I   
drifted off."  
" Even the Senshi have limits, Ami-chan," Haruka   
said as she stepped out the door, coming back a few   
moments later with some coffee from the pot set up   
by the room that had been turned into a ward for the   
injured. " You were awake for almost three days   
straight, and participated in the casting of a major   
spell."   
" I'm sorry," she said and took a sip of the   
hot liquid. " I slept for a while, but I woke up and   
couldn't go back to sleep. I decided to do some other   
work to take my mind off of recent events."   
" Is there any change in Hotaru's   
condition?" Michiru asked. To most her voice   
would have sounded normal, but the two others   
could hear the hope that had crept into it. Ami   
shook her head, hating to have to destroy that   
glimmer of optimism.  
" No, nothing, but we shouldn't talk about   
that here," she gently reminded them and rose,   
taking the mug with her. " I need to check up on   
her anyway, so we can talk in private down there." The   
two women followed her down the corridor and to a   
private elevator which answered only to the King,   
Queen or the Senshi.   
A few minutes later they were deep underground   
in a small, well-equipped lab, the predominant feature   
being the bed against one wall with banks of equipment   
arrayed around it. The bed was a modification she had   
done to a new system designed to keep track of injured   
soldiers in the field while they were being transported   
to proper care.   
In the bed itself was a young girl with short,   
black hair that was cut straight just above her   
shoulders. A monitor kept track of her slow breathing   
and the beating of her heart, but the one that   
monitored brain activity was still showing flat   
lines and a telltale that would have spoke of   
activity was dark.   
" There still hasn't been any change," Ami said   
in a flat, controlled voice that was the only way she   
could keep from crying when talking to them about   
Hotaru. " Physically, she's almost perfectly   
fine. She's breathing well, and her heart is strong."  
" Serenity and Endymion were able to heal up   
the trauma she suffered from the feedback," Haruka   
softly said, almost like she thought that Hotaru was   
just asleep and didn't want to wake her. " Hasn't that   
helped? She was only hurt badly, and she never really   
died."   
" I don't know," Ami admitted. " We're not like   
regular humans, Haruka. We're different, but that   
doesn't make it any easier for us here. She's still   
in a very deep coma and hasn't responded to any   
stimuli. Serenity and Endymion couldn't even find   
her consciousness inside her mind, so they settled   
for healing up the damage done to her body in hopes   
that it would suffice."   
" Why did it have to be her?" Michiru wondered   
and choked back a sob. " She only had six years after   
everything she did for us. It's not fair."   
Ami nearly broke inside as Haruka hugged Michiru   
from behind and tried to console her. She had made it   
through medical school in near-record time, graduating   
a few months before the initial attacks with her   
doctorate. Unfortunately, despite the classes in   
dealing with distraught family members she had taken,   
she didn't have the time to get used to telling people   
bad news. To further complicate things, there were the   
emotional attachments she had to these two women and the   
girl on the bed. These weren't strangers she would walk   
away from in a few minutes.   
" I really hate to only have bad news, but I won't   
lie to you," she went on a few moments later. She dabbed   
the tears away from her eyes with a tissue and resolutely   
faced the two women. " There is every possibility that   
she will never wake up again. You can rarely tell with   
a coma, especially one this deep.  
" What is worse, though," she forced herself to   
continue, not heeding the tears rolling down her   
face. " One of our hypotheses about her is that she   
would be reincarnated after using that attack like she   
did to kill Pharaoh Ninety. She didn't become a child   
again this time, but we don't know if she has to die   
first. We don't know anything about that part. If there   
is a cycle to her being reincarnated, it may have been   
broken."   
" Oh, no!" Michiru broke into tears and turned to   
rest her head on Haruka's shoulder while she cried. The   
blonde hugged her closer and kissed the top of her head   
before looking up to catch Ami's eyes.  
" Thank you, Ami-san," she murmured, using an   
honorific that she usually didn't with the younger   
woman. " Thank you for the truth. It hurts now, of   
course, but we can't go around fooling ourselves about   
her." The blue-haired woman nodded, agreeing with what   
Haruka had said.  
" There's more, though," she added. " It's the   
reason I called you in the first place tonight. The   
other work I mentioned had to do with what we   
discussed a few months ago and what I just finished   
verifying."  
" Minako doesn't know, does she?" Haruka   
quietly asked. Ami shook her head.  
" No, not the specific reasons. She only knows   
that it is to help you with something important. That   
was a good enough reason for her, but we haven't had   
much luck. She's been able to use her crescent compact   
to make disguises like Usagi-chan used to, and she's   
even better than Usagi at it due to her doing it more   
often."   
" But," Haruka prompted her, saying what Ami was   
trying to keep from showing in her voice.   
" She finally was able to turn into a male a few   
weeks ago. Not a gender-neutral like she and we   
think Usagi were doing when they had become 'boys'   
before, but actually a biological male. Unfortunately,   
as far as I've been able to determine, she's sterile   
when she does that."   
" Which means," Haruka went on, finishing Ami's   
line of thought. " That if I was able to figure out   
how to use her compact or Usagi's pen, we still   
couldn't have a child together.  
" Don't apologize," she hastily added, catching   
the look on Ami's face. " It isn't your fault that   
those items aren't powerful enough, or that I'm like   
this." Haruka steered Michiru over to a couch and sat   
down with her. " Michiru said once that I embody the   
strengths of both genders, but it doesn't go as far   
as genetics."   
" It was just an idle curiosity of ours,   
especially after we had Hotaru," Michiru   
added. " Thank you for trying, Ami-chan."   
" There's always Serenity and the crystal," Ami   
ventured, but the other two women shook their heads   
in disagreement.   
" That's too close to the limits of her   
power," Michiru explained. " We may have wanted   
to have a child together, but not at that price. What   
if the price for her creating a life is her own?"   
" You're right," Ami agreed and started in   
surprise as her communicator watch beeped three   
times in rapid succession. " That's me," she explained   
and started moving to the elevator. " They need me in   
the hospital ward."   
" We'll close up down here when we are   
done." Haruka told her. Ami nodded and went into   
the elevator, but stopped the doors from closing suddenly.  
" I almost forgot," she added. " Since we do   
have another doctor, I'm going to consider having him   
look over Hotaru-chan to see if he has any ideas. I'll   
keep an eye on him and when I reach an opinion as to   
if he can be trusted, I'll let you know and we can see   
what you feel about it."   
" I trust your opinion, Ami-chan," Michiru   
responded and smiled at her. " We'll probably see   
you in a bit up there."  
  
************************************************   
  
" Mama?" she whispered, looking around in the   
dim light as she slowly swam upwards towards being   
fully awake. She felt hot, and something was wrapped   
around her head and over one eye. Everything else was   
blurred and hazy, with a reddish color overlaying what   
she could see.  
" There," a comforting voice came to her from   
off to one side, the side she couldn't see due to the   
bandages. A glass was pressed to her lips and she   
drank the water, suddenly aware of her thirst. The   
girl turned to see the woman sitting in a chair next   
to her bed. Right beyond her was another bed, and   
several more after that.   
" Where am I?" she asked the woman while trying   
to clearly see everything and growing alarmed that she   
couldn't. All she could see of the woman was that she   
had long, light colored hair.   
" A hospital of sorts," was the answer. " Your   
eyes aren't permanently hurt, but things should be a   
bit blurred for a few days according to the doctor."   
" What happened?" the girl asked, taking stock   
of the situation. A needle was in her left arm, and a   
tube ran from that to a bag hanging on a pole by her   
bed. She felt stiff all over, and was also tired and   
hungry.  
" Did you hear the people talking about the   
war?" the woman replied in a sad voice. The girl   
nodded and got a bit apprehensive. War was something   
that was bad.   
" Well," the woman went on. " Despite all we   
could do, the war finally came here to Tokyo, and a   
lot of people died. This," she waved her hand around   
to indicate the rest of the room. " This is where we   
are taking care of some of the people who were hurt."   
" Oh," the girl replied and squinted as she tried   
to make out the persons in the beds next to her. " Are   
my parents here, or are they in another room?" The   
woman frowned slightly, got up and walked to the foot   
of the bed.   
" What's your name, honey?" she asked after she   
looked at a piece of paper taped to the bed. The girl   
shrugged and frowned, the parts of her face that could   
be seen under the bandages showing her clearly   
struggling to remember.   
" I don't know," she finally admitted.  
" Oh, dear," the woman muttered, sat on the bed   
next to the girl and pulled her up into an embrace. The   
girl accepted the gesture, feeling more secure in her   
arms. " There's nothing on the chart. I'll have to get   
someone to go look at your house for any records."  
" You didn't answer me," she reminded the woman   
and looked up at her, but without any accusation in   
her eyes. " If a war happened here, did my parents die?"   
" I'm afraid so, honey," the woman replied and   
wiped a tear from her eye. " Only a very few people   
survived it, I'm afraid."   
" How many?" the girl asked, surprising the   
woman with her question. Not grief or loss over her   
parent's death and her now being alone, but instead   
this odd question. Maybe she didn't remember her   
parents, either.   
" A little over seven hundred," she answered.   
" That few?"  
" Yes, that few," the woman sighed. A light came   
on over the girl's left, making things a little bit   
brighter. She looked up at the woman and saw something   
shiny on her forehead. Squinting again in an effort   
to make it out, she pulled herself up so that her   
face was right in the woman's.  
" You're the Queen," she said in an almost   
accusing tone. " The Queen!" the girl suddenly   
squeaked in surprise and quickly let go of her,   
remembering that nobody was supposed to treat a Queen   
like that. She was certain that she was going to get   
thrown into the dungeon. " I'm sorry!" she began to   
apologize, but it was cut off as the woman hugged her   
again.   
" It's all right," Serenity smiled down at   
her. " It's all right, honey. I'm not mad at you,   
and I'm certainly not going to hurt you. You're safe   
now."   
" But," she spluttered. " You're like the   
Emperor, and we're not supposed to touch the Emperor. My   
sensei told us so!"   
" The Emperor was a dear, sweet man, and he   
wouldn't have minded you hugging him because you were   
scared," the blonde explained. He wouldn't have minded,   
she told herself. His love for his country had led him   
to abdicate in favor of her when the Black Moon first   
began to attack. She is the only one who can defend   
Japan against this threat, he had told the world. She   
had defended Japan, but at a horrible cost.  
" Do you miss your family, too?" the girl asked,   
breaking Serenity out of her momentary reverie. " Sensei   
told us that they died."   
" Hai," she whispered and let the tears come. The   
Black Moon's magic could not be stopped by the military   
might of the JSDF, but the Senshi quickly foiled their   
plan to hold the Emperor hostage. Before she had even   
realized it, the Emperor had given her his position. The   
man was shaken by the proof that magic existed and also   
saw that the Senshi were the only hope that the country   
had.   
Later they found that the Black Moon even had   
spies in the palace. The chaos of the pitched battle   
gave the spy plenty of time to relay the news, and her   
parents and brother were dead within minutes of her   
impromptu coronation. It was a harsh retribution for   
the plans of the Black Moon being thwarted.   
" I do miss them," she confirmed a few minutes   
later and wiped away the traces of the tears.   
" Can I ask you a question?" the girl spoke a   
few moments later. " If you're the Queen, why are you   
in here?" The blonde blushed in response to her question.   
" I couldn't sleep, so I came down here to let   
someone else get some more rest since we've all been   
very busy," she explained. " And you just reminded me   
that I need to check on the rest of the people in here.  
" However," she smiled at the girl. " Once I'm   
done, I'll come back and we can see about getting you   
a little snack. I bet you're probably hungry."   
" Um-hum," the girl agreed and smiled back for   
the first time.  
  
************************************************  
  
" Good morning," Haruka said as she turned   
the corner of the shrine and almost bumped into Rei.   
" Haruka-san, you startled the wits out of   
me," the miko admitted and blushed. " I wasn't   
expecting anyone up here, not with everything   
that had been going on."   
" I'm sorry, Rei-chan," the blonde apologized   
and zipped up the jacket she was wearing a little   
more. It was getting noticeably cooler and would   
probably be back to freezing by around noon as   
Serenity and Endymion finished adjusting the   
enchantment that controlled the weather around   
Crystal Tokyo. Traces of snow covered the ground   
of the shrine and covered over a few of the smoke   
stains on the roof.  
" Do they need me for something?" Rei asked.  
" No, no," Haruka hastily assured her. " Now   
that we don't have a thousand prisoners to watch or   
anybody to rescue, it is sort of calm down there," she   
said, nodding down towards the palace grounds. The   
Hikawa shrine was on a hill that overlooked the   
palace. "People are generally resting and trying   
to accept what happened."  
" Certainly no need for a miko, or at least   
not right now," Rei said. " Maybe a little later on   
today after people have rested and come more to terms   
with their loss, but not right now."   
" You sound bored."   
" I am a little, I guess," she admitted. " A   
night's sleep did wonders in terms of rest, but not   
for my peace of mind."   
" I'm sorry about your grandfather," Haruka   
said.  
" We all lost people we loved in the attack," Rei   
reminded her. " Thank you for thinking of him."   
They were silent for a little while, each alone   
with their thoughts.   
" What about you?" the raven-haired woman   
asked. " Are you restless as well?"  
" Yes," Haruka replied. " Your duty will really   
be beginning. She'll probably name you the head of   
spiritual affairs for Crystal Tokyo. I'm just a   
soldier, and there is nobody left to fight."   
" There's more to you than just fighting," Rei   
protested.  
" Ami is a doctor, and she can heal the   
people," Haruka countered. " Makoto is feeding   
them. Minako is our general and Michiru is the   
government machinery. That leaves God, which is   
your department. And me, I-"   
" Don't be so sure of that," Rei cut in, her   
voice slightly bitter. " I came up here to take a   
look at the place and try to decide whether or not   
to fix it up and keep it open."   
" That shouldn't be too much of an issue," the   
taller woman said. " People will look to the gods for   
comfort, and you have the shrine that is closest to the   
palace. You'll have to sell tickets to keep them away."  
" What need do they have of me, Haruka?" Rei   
retorted. " They already have a god walking in their   
midst. I've heard some whispering prayers to her already."   
" Odango-atama as one of the gods?" Haruka   
laughed; a loud, clear laugh that echoed in the cold,   
still air.   
" Who is to say that she isn't a god?" Rei   
replied. " The Christians say that it took their God   
six days to create the Earth. She saved it from   
destruction in the blink of an eye."  
" She would be the first to say she wasn't a   
god," Haruka went on. " And then she would probably   
trip over her feet in order to prove her point. She's   
no god, Rei-chan, and I'm in a position to know.   
" I lived for five years with two people who   
were closer to being gods than Usagi-chan ever could   
be. Saturn is well-named as the God of Ruin, and Pluto   
could have changed all of existence with a thought."  
" It is far harder to create rather than   
destroy," the miko countered. " And it was Serenity   
who restored the world after Saturn destroyed it and   
Pluto sealed away the malevolence that was Pharaoh   
Ninety. It may be none of those three were gods, but   
the people down there consider Serenity to be one, and   
they don't know more than rumors about Pluto and   
Saturn. It would not be hard for Serenity to take   
the mantle of godhood now."  
" She won't, and I'd bet that you know that as   
well as I," Haruka challenged her.   
" How much?" Rei countered.  
" Two prayers," the blonde answered, holding up   
the coins to cover two of the small charms that Rei   
used to make and sell at the shrine.  
" Haruka, I'm so sorry," she gasped. " Why   
didn't you tell me you were here for that?"   
" My prayers won't be affected by waiting for   
a few minutes, and you needed to talk to someone," she   
explained and walked over to the small stand by the   
main entrance to the building. Rei followed her and   
opened up the door to get a pair of the small charms,   
and then took a third as well.  
" One for your adopted daughter," she replied   
to the blonde, putting one into her hand and then a   
second but keeping the third to herself. " One for   
your love, and one for our Usagi-chan, who we hope   
never changes."   
  
***********************************************   
  
" No, send the beds to the second hospital   
ward, " she explained again to the man she was   
talking to. " The injured people we found yesterday   
need them more than the children in the nursery do,   
and we can make another run to the furniture store   
tomorrow to get what they need.  
" Please remember that this isn't a normal   
winter," she gently reminded him. " It's cold outside,   
but it is not allowed to be cold in here. They'll be   
fine with sleeping bags for another night."   
" You know, you're right, Neptune-sama," he   
sheepishly admitted. " I grew up in Hokkaido, and I   
guess it is an old habit to be worried about the   
cold. I'm not used to weather that behaves like this."  
" That's all right," Michiru said as she gave   
him a warm smile and he turned to leave. The door   
closed behind him, giving her a rare moment of   
peace. By default she had become the one who people   
looked to as the war against the Black Moon   
progressed. Her upbringing in a wealthy family   
made her more aware of the political scene than   
any of the others, and she had become the liaison   
between Serenity and the Japanese government and   
the media. Her face was one the people who had   
survived were used to seeing, and she was considered   
more approachable than the Queen. After the last   
attack, she had become the one directing the survivors   
by default.   
She was the one who had gotten together the   
people who could drive trucks and made them start   
going to stores to bring in food. Others were busy   
readying the Crystal Palace, a purely ceremonial   
building that was only intended as living quarters   
for the Senshi and literally grown overnight as a   
testament to the new Queen's power, into a place   
capable of housing everyone who was still alive. It   
was understandable that they would want to band   
together after such a calamity, and that made her   
task easier.  
What would also help was that she apparently   
now had two assistants as of that morning. Two of   
the students that had been found yesterday had   
volunteered their services, and would be able to   
start once the doctor cleared them to work. One had   
a number of cuts on his hands and upper body as well   
as the weakness brought about by the poison, and Ami   
had said that it was a miracle he was still   
alive. Somehow his face hadn't been sliced open   
when a window near him had been shattered while   
he slept for three days after the attack.   
While they had only done work at their school   
in student government, it was more than anyone else   
had. And, she reasoned, if they could keep a few   
hundred high school boys in line like they had said,   
they should be able to handle just about everything   
with the exception of Makoto. She had agreed that   
they were cute when she just happened to drop by the   
infirmary.   
Michiru smiled, pleased that it was another   
sign of things returning to normal among her   
friends. They all had different ways of coping. Some   
were throwing themselves into their work, like Mamoru.   
Plans were underway to begin construction of a   
vast cemetery to the north of the palace. Endymion   
had already picked out the place for that, as well   
as a few other buildings he said were important. What   
only the Senshi knew was that these were things they   
had seen on the visit by some of them to the   
future. Disclosing foreknowledge of the attack   
would be disastrous, whether it was the recent one   
or the one to come in the thirtieth century.   
She sighed and took a sip of her tea. It had   
gone cold, she suddenly realized. Just like her heart   
had. The fact was that all of her work here to restore   
this city was technically futile. It would be destroyed   
again and more people would be lost. She had been   
able to figure out much due to Chibi-usa's slips of   
the tongue when she used to come for visits.  
A mental note was made to schedule an   
appointment for her with the other doctor they   
had discovered they had. He was in his late fifties   
and had a fractured hip due to a traffic accident   
right before the last attack, but he had a doctorate   
in psychiatry as well. She'd be in there right after   
Minako, she decided. Serenity was showing her   
resilience, but Venus' reactions were beginning to   
make the blonde's friends very worried.   
Baka, she scolded herself. Stop being so   
depressed. Crystal Tokyo would fall, but that did   
not mean that she couldn't do her best to make it   
come back as quickly as possible. Building foundations   
could be made to survive any attack, allowing housing   
to be rebuilt at a fantastic rate. Underground bunkers   
and subways could be converted into hospitals and the   
means for rapid transfer of patients, cutting down on   
the overall number of casualties. Just because they   
knew that they would be attacked didn't mean they had   
to give up already.   
" Maybe you killed our daughter, you   
bastard," she whispered to the warped, twisted   
soul that they had banished to Nemesis. " I can't   
get my hands around your throat to get the   
revenge I want, but this city will be my   
vengeance. I'll make it into a monument to her   
that you will hurt, but nothing will ever be able   
to destroy. Crystal Tokyo will stand forever as a   
shrine to her dedication. If she could give so   
much, it's the least I can do."  
Michiru stood and went to get a refill of   
tea, and decided that she was feeling much, much   
better now. It always helped to have a goal in   
life.  
  
************************************************   
  
" You don't need to explain this to me," Venus   
coolly explained as the wind whipped her hair   
around. " We're not blaming you, and it wasn't   
your fault."   
" No, it's not all right," Uranus almost   
snapped back at the other blonde. " I just feel   
like we missed something or made a mistake   
somewhere. I was hoping that you'd listen to me   
and tell me what went wrong."  
" I'll be glad to listen to you, Haruka," Venus   
replied and deliberately broke their convention of   
not using personal names while in uniform. " But   
only if you understand and accept that you are under   
no compulsion to do this. I am not going to start a   
tradition or trend of interrogating the other Senshi   
even if Serenity named me our official leader earlier.  
" I'll help you out," she added and caught   
Uranus' eyes for a moment, breaking away from looking   
out over the snowy expanse of Tokyo from the topmost   
portion of the palace where a person could actually   
go outside. " But only as your friend. Not as your   
leader or commanding officer."  
" Deal," Uranus replied and stuck out her hand,   
which Venus took. " Aren't you cold up here?" she   
asked a moment later, glancing down at the fuku that   
Venus was wearing in distinct contrast to the parka   
and pants she wore over her own.  
" No," the shorter woman replied and stepped   
back to shake off the snow from two chairs. She sat   
down on one and gestured to the other. " It isn't   
really cold, at least not to our Senshi forms, and I   
haven't been Minako for a while."   
" And some people call me crazy," Uranus sighed   
and sat. " Are you sure that is very wise?"  
" Not even Minako could find much to laugh   
about after losing her parents, two Senshi who were   
almost like sisters to her and the millions of   
residents of Tokyo who she was supposed to   
protect," Venus bitterly added. She quickly held   
up a hand to stop Uranus from saying what she knew   
she was about to hear.   
" I know it wasn't my fault. We didn't know   
that they could do it or that they had poison gas   
stockpiled here," she sighed. " It's just taking me   
a while to accept that it wasn't my fault. Serenity   
is doing the same thing. It's called denial, and   
we're getting over it. What did you want to talk   
about?"   
" You all have described the time you spent   
linked with Serenity as only lasting a few   
moments," Uranus began, not showing any reaction   
to the brusque change of subject by the other   
woman. " But out here in the real world, you were   
in a trance for over three hours. They gassed the   
city in the early morning, probably about the same   
time that Phantom started his spell and you tried   
to counter it.  
" A week ago the Black Moon had about twenty   
thousand effective members world wide according to   
our estimates, and it looked like they pulled in   
all of them for the attack. They were much better   
prepared than we thought."   
" I remember Serenity saying that we needed to   
keep up the palace's shield," Venus added and shook   
her head. " But nothing other than that. We could feel   
everything dying all across the planet."  
" Well, most of Tokyo was dead, too," Uranus   
went on. " I don't think that they expected to find   
anyone alive at the palace. When they first saw us in   
front of the steps to the gate they stopped."   
" With good reason," the long haired woman   
commented. " You'd built up your reputation in the   
months before the last attack when you took out their   
new bases. Facing off against you three was considered   
a suicide mission according our reports."   
" Venus, let me finish, please," Uranus quietly   
asked. " Or let Minako out. I can't take you being like   
this." They locked eyes for a few moments in a decidedly   
non-hostile staredown that Venus broke off early by   
pointedly glancing away.  
" I'm sorry," Venus responded and forced out a   
hesitant smile. " I'll try to behave."  
" Thanks," she replied, her own smile far easier   
and more natural. " They stopped at first and it took   
about five minutes for them to decide to attack us   
anyway. Even if we didn't have the JSDF backing us,   
it was still like dynamiting fish in a barrel. With   
Saturn protecting us, we were picking them off before   
they could even get into the clear and approach us.  
" And then all hell broke loose," Uranus tried   
to continue, but her voice caught and she stopped for   
a minute to compose herself. " They'd threaten the   
ones in their ranks who broke the rules by saying   
that they would be thrown to the demons. How were   
we to know that they were right?"   
" We couldn't have known," Venus offered. " They   
used magics that we can't even begin to understand."  
" Anyway," Uranus forced herself to go on. "We   
couldn't hurt these things, at least not directly. They   
were soaking up our attacks like we were throwing   
snowballs. The flash of light from Neptune's Submarine   
Reflection would distract them for a moment, but there   
were a dozen of them to one of her. My sword or   
Saturn's Glaive could hurt them, but not quickly   
enough. Not when there was a dozen of them.  
" Hotaru... Saturn said that she couldn't keep   
on shielding us and attack them at the same time. I   
yelled in frustration and anger and challenged the one   
in the lead. Their regular troops were laughing and   
cheering them on.   
" You six were only a few hundred meters behind   
us, and the demons were pushing us back through the   
gates. If they got past us, there was no way to keep   
them from getting to the Queen. It would have been   
over," the tall woman sniffed once, loudly, as she   
tried to hold back her tears.   
" She thanked us, and said that she loved   
us. There were ribbons all over the place, and then   
it got quiet. I don't remember anything other than   
holding her and Michiru until you found us.  
" Endymion thinks that she must have thought   
that a sufficiently powerful attack could overcome   
their apparent resistance to magic. They had talked   
about magic and how it worked a number of times," the   
tall woman finally started speaking again a few   
minutes later. " It was the strain of trying to hold   
back the Death Reborn Revolution that nearly killed her."   
" And you think that you made a mistake   
somewhere?" Venus asked.   
" We had to have," Uranus responded and slapped   
the arm of her chair, making powdery snow fly. " What   
did we miss? What else could we have done?"   
Venus thought about her words for the space of   
several minutes.   
" Given the circumstances, and that you didn't   
have the conventional forces that you were supposed to   
have due to the poison, I don't think that you made   
any mistakes," she decided. " The demons were   
specifically designed to fight us, and the ones who   
summoned them were not there, so you couldn't have   
killed them in order to break their summoning   
spells. We couldn't have stopped in order to try and   
banish them. You did everything you should have, Uranus,   
and you didn't make any mistakes."   
" We had to have!" the older woman protested. " If   
we did everything right, Hotaru-chan would still be   
alive."  
" Haruka?" she gently asked. " Is it that you   
felt that you made a mistake, or do you feel guilty   
that the Outer Senshi finally ran into something that   
they couldn't beat on their own?"   
" What?" she incredulously asked.  
" Haruka-san, sometimes we can do everything   
right and not make a mistake, and it still isn't   
enough. You did everything you could. I'm sorry that   
it wasn't enough to save Hotaru-chan. Hotaru did what   
she felt was necessary to save the Queen, and Serenity   
survived.  
" Hotaru got what she wanted," she added and   
stood. " Don't forget that part, Haruka. She was the   
one who made that decision, and I am sure that if she   
was here, she'd be content with what happened."  
Venus stood and leaned over to give the other   
woman a friendly clasp on the shoulder prior to   
leaving. " Don't feel sad that she succeeded. Be   
happy for her."  
  
************************************************  
  
" Hi, honey," the Queen smiled to the girl   
as she walked into the ward.   
" Your Majesty," she stammered, slid out of   
bed and tried to curtsy like she had seen other   
women doing before to the Queen on television. The   
woman blushed and gently pulled the girl up so she   
was standing straight.   
" You don't have to do that, you know," Serenity   
offered. " We've already decided that we only do that   
on special occasions. While this is a special occasion,   
it isn't one like that," she quickly added. " The   
doctor says that you can get up and move around, so   
how would you like to go for a walk?" she asked. The   
doctor had cleared her, saying that nothing was wrong   
with her eyes.  
" I'd like that," the girl nodded. " They took   
off most of the bandages a little while ago."  
" I can see that," she agreed. " You're pretty."   
" I am not!" the girl protested and blushed,   
feeling embarrassed. Now that there was some light   
and she didn't have the bandages wrapped around her   
head, Serenity could tell that the girl was beautiful.   
A few traces of baby fat softened and rounded   
the girl's face. Her short, black hair went well   
with her skin; which, while it wasn't the pale tone   
that was so popular right before the attack, was smooth   
and unblemished. The only thing that marred her looks   
were her eyes and the pink flush to the whites. She   
was guessing that the girl had dark brown eyes.   
" You are, too," she countered and   
giggled. " Let's go get you some clothes to   
wear. That old T-shirt that you're wearing is   
clean but not exactly flattering."   
" Your Majesty," she began a few minutes   
later out in the hallway as they walked towards   
one of the storage rooms.  
" Call me Serenity," she automatically   
replied and then glanced around before giving the   
girl a quick grin. " Or, if you want, you can call   
me Usagi-chan. I'm still not used to being called   
Serenity, either."   
" Okay, Usagi-chan," she smiled back. " I still   
don't have a name for you to call me, though," she   
added as the smile faded away. " I don't remember   
who my family is, or what my name is."  
" Don't worry, honey. We know where your house   
was, and someone will go there and we can find out   
who you are. Is that all right?" she asked, looking   
down at her.   
" Yes," the child sadly replied. " I feel bad   
for not remembering them. Parents are supposed to be   
very important to a child, and I should remember them."  
" What you have is amnesia," she carefully   
explained as they entered the room and were directed   
towards children's clothes. " It isn't your fault   
that it happened.  
" Amnesia is when somebody forgets something   
because of something happening to them," she went on,   
keeping an eye on the girl and the choices of clothing   
a woman there was helping them look through. One of   
Michiru's first acts this morning had been to order   
most of the stock from a nearby clothing store to be   
brought to the palace once they realized the extent   
of the number of people found yesterday and how little   
they had in ways of supplies.  
" It might be when somebody gets hurt, or gets   
really sick. Because of that, they lose some of their   
memories for a while. Most of the time they come back   
to the person in a little while, so don't feel sad   
right now. It isn't your fault that you can't remember   
them."   
" Were you going to take her outside?" the older   
woman asked. " We have some really warm jackets in   
children's sizes and mittens in case she wants to   
throw some snowballs."   
" Snow?" the girl gasped, instantly forgetting   
her worries. Serenity giggled and nodded to the woman.  
" I'll come down and take you outside a little   
bit later, all right?"  
" Okay!" she happily beamed. " I never got to go   
out in the snow before."   
" Here you go," the woman said and handed over a   
bulky, long jacket and a pair of mittens. " We've got   
more than enough to go around in your size, so you   
don't have to bring those back unless you are no   
longer going to be using them."   
" I understand," she smiled and sketched a   
brief bow to the older woman. " Thank you!"  
" Yes, thank you for your help," the Queen   
echoed the child's words. The girl was shown a room   
where she could change, and then they were off again.  
" Do you still want to go take a look   
outside?" she asked the girl, who nodded in reply. It   
made Serenity happy to see the enthusiasm the girl   
was now showing, and she was reminded of how the   
child growing inside of her looked when she was   
like that. One of her hands drifted to her stomach   
and the life a few centimeters further in.  
The girl caught the motion. " Are you going   
to have a baby soon?" she asked.  
" Yes," she smiled. " I'll be having a daughter   
in about five months."   
" When you do can I hold her? I don't have any   
brothers or sisters."   
" Of course," she smiled at her and suddenly   
veered off to the side towards a blank wall. " I   
want to show you something that most people don't   
get to see," she explained and put her hand on a   
portion of the wall. That spot glowed, and then a   
hidden door slid aside, revealing one of several   
hidden elevators.   
A minute later they stepped out into the   
living quarters of the Senshi near the top of the   
palace and switched to another elevator for a much   
shorter ride.   
" Wow!" the girl gasped as the door opened   
to reveal the view of Tokyo in every direction. She   
ran over to a window and looked out, marveling at   
how far up they were.  
" You like it, ne?" Serenity smiled and watched   
her run from window to window for a few moments before   
going to get each of them a glass of juice and sinking   
down into one of the sofas. She reached up and unpinned   
her odango, allowing her hair to fall freely down over   
the back of the sofa.   
" You can see forever up here," the child said   
as she came over and sat next to her, eyes darting   
back and forth at the bookshelves lining the central   
pillar that housed the elevator shafts. " What is   
this place?"   
" This is up above where I live," she   
replied. " We're all the way at the top of the   
palace. My friends and I all share this room   
together. I'm sorry, but I had to sit down for a   
few minutes. I'm still a little tired and I thought   
that you'd like to see the view."   
" Thank you, Usagi-chan" she said and took a   
drink. " I like it up here. The city looks so small   
it's almost like a toy."   
" You can keep looking around if you want," the   
blonde smiled. She pointed over to one of several   
marble pedestals with a glass case protecting a small   
vase that was on display. " Just don't touch anything   
that's on one of the pedestals. Some of them are easily   
broken."   
" Okay!" the girl smiled and moved off again. Oh,   
for that energy again, Serenity smiled to herself. I   
never thought that I would be so tired, she added,   
looking down at her stomach.   
" It's all your fault, Chibi-usa-chan" she   
scolded the bulge, but she was smiling as she did   
so and didn't have a hint of blame in her voice. She   
kissed the tips of her fingers and pressed them up   
against where she thought the baby was. " I wish I   
could tell you to hurry up, but we know that wouldn't   
matter."  
" Usagi-chan?"  
"What?"  
" Sensei said that you could do anything. Can   
you make it so that the war never happened?"   
" No," she sighed. " I can do a lot with my   
magic, but I have limits on it as well."  
" Sensei said you could do almost anything," the   
girl went on, her voice changing as she moved around   
the corner of one bookcase and out of sight. The blonde   
sighed and made a note to try to get this goddess   
business out of the way as soon as possible. The   
teachers would not be allowed to go on like that any   
more.   
" I can't do anything I want," she   
replied. " Using magic is like running in some   
ways. If you go out and run and run until you get   
tired and can't run anymore, it takes a while until   
you can run again, and you can only run so far anyway.  
" I've done so much with magic the last few   
days that I need to rest more right now. Also, there   
are other things to consider," she added. " There   
are some things that I shouldn't do with magic all   
the time."   
" What shouldn't you do?"   
" Well, you know the cuts on your face?" she asked.  
" Um-hum."  
" I could have healed them up, but then there's   
always the danger that if you were hurt again due to   
something else that your body would forget how to heal   
by itself because I healed you, and that would be a   
very bad thing."   
" Is that why you only did that to certain   
people?" she questioned, trying to understand   
it. Serenity could see her face and the puzzled   
look on it as she poked her head around the other   
bookcase for a moment, having worked her way around   
the central pillar.  
" Yes, the people who were hurt very   
badly," she confirmed.  
" What's it like? Doing magic, I mean."   
The blonde shrugged. "It is like seeing or   
hearing," Serenity said. " Now that I can do it, I   
can't think of not being able to do it anymore. I   
don't know how to describe it."  
A loud, ringing clang brought her to her feet   
despite herself. There was only one thing in the   
room that could have made a noise like that. She   
ran around the pillar and skidded to a stop,   
breathing heavily due to the adrenaline rush.   
" I'm sorry," the girl was saying as she put   
the Garnet Rod back where it had been, her eyes wide   
and fearful. " I bumped... I'm sorry, Usagi-chan. I   
shouldn't lie to you when you've tried to be my friend.   
" I thought that the ball on the pedestal was   
so pretty, but you said not to touch it, so I   
didn't," she went on. " The big stick wasn't on   
a pedestal, though, but just leaning up against   
it. It was heavier than I thought, and I dropped   
it," she admitted.   
" You're not hurt, are you?" Serenity asked,   
feeling her heart finally begin to slow down. She   
seemed to be fine, and they had no idea what would   
happen to someone who tried taking anything that   
had belonged to Pluto.   
" Just a little startled," the girl confessed   
and blushed at the direct stare that had been leveled   
at her.  
" That's good," the blonde smiled, trying to   
put the child at ease. " I have a few things to do   
right now, so let me take you back to the ward, and   
we can meet later on like I said. I don't see why   
the doctor wouldn't let you go outside later on," she   
finished and led her to the elevator.  
  
************************************************   
  
" Hi, Mako-chan," Usagi said as the brunette   
came up the stairs to their den with a fluffy, white   
bathrobe pulled around her and hair that was still   
wet. " What hotel did you loot that from?" she quipped,   
earning a smile from her.   
" You keep that up and I'm not voting for you   
in the next election," Makoto retorted and the blonde   
smiled back. " How's your new friend?"  
" That girl?" she replied, not looking up from   
the computer screen.  
" Yes, that girl," Makoto said and took a   
seat. She stretched, yawned and put her feet up on   
the table in front of her. All the work that she had   
done that day was beginning to catch up to her, and   
she was considering going to bed early despite it   
only being a little after ten in the evening. It took   
her a few moments to realize that Usagi wasn't   
playing a game.   
" She had a lot of fun this afternoon," Usagi   
said absent-mindedly. " There were some other   
children out in the courtyard and they had good,   
old-fashioned snowball fight."   
" You may want to consider spreading around   
your attention a little bit, Serenity," Makoto   
warned her, using that name to emphasize her point.  
" She doesn't have anyone, Mako-chan," she   
objected.   
" Nobody has anyone, Usagi-chan," Makoto went   
on. " We only have a half dozen cases where people in   
the same families survived. The other children don't   
have parents, and jealousy is something that we have   
to think is eventually going to come up.   
"You don't have to totally ignore her," the   
brunette added, seeing Usagi's shoulders tense   
slightly. " Just be more aware of the other children,   
too. Talk to them more, and try to learn their names."   
" That's what I'm trying to do," Usagi   
responded. " These are the school records that   
Ami set up last night. What was the address again   
where you found that girl?"   
" Um, you would ask me something like that," she   
said, frowned a moment and rattled off a string of   
numbers. " Starting with her, ne?"   
" Well," the blonde laughed and tried to find   
some way to defend herself, but gave up after a   
minute. During that time, she was still typing   
away. The computer beeped once.  
" Aha, a match!" she said, hit a key with a   
flourish and sat back to wait for it to spit out   
the name.  
" So, how many years has it taken for you to   
get the hang of a computer now, Usagi-chan?" Makoto   
asked, grinning slightly and waiting for the return   
volley.   
" Usagi?" she asked as a minute passed and none   
came. She walked over to her friend to see what was   
going on, since it wasn't like Usagi to pass up a   
chance to trade a few jokes. " Usagi-chan?"  
" Mako-chan, go get," she began, her face   
pale. She stopped as if she was reconsidering her   
words. " No, never mind," she decided and closed her   
eyes. A moment later, Jupiter heard the Queen's voice   
echo inside her mind as she summoned Neptune and Uranus   
to her, followed a moment later by a shielded thought   
sent to the King that she couldn't understand.   
All three of them appeared a moment later in a   
shimmering blur of gold and silver in response to the   
power of the two monarchs. Usagi ignored them at   
first, calmly pressing a button on the intercom set   
into the table by the computer.   
" Yes, Your Majesty?" the voice of one of the   
guards replied.  
" Good evening, Kaieda-kun," she said to   
him. " Please take your radio and go to the second   
hospital ward at once, and call me from there."   
" At once!" he replied and the connection   
closed.  
" What is it, Usako?" Mamoru asked. Usagi   
sighed and pointed at the computer screen and the   
list of names there.   
" I don't believe in coincidences anymore," she   
admitted in a worried voice. " It was bad enough that   
she vanished without talking to anyone, but this may   
be going entirely too far."   
" Meiou Setsuna?" Makoto read the name on the   
screen and felt her knees buckle from the shock. Mamoru   
got an arm around her and kept her from hitting the   
ground.   
" How in the world?" he began when the radio   
beeped.   
" Kaieda-kun, please ask the attendant on duty   
to make sure that the girl I was looking after earlier   
today is still in her bed and that nothing is wrong   
with her. We'll be down there in a few minutes," Usagi   
replied.   
" You mean to say that she reincarnated   
herself?" Makoto asked in disbelief. " She couldn't   
have. We last saw her two weeks ago, and that girl   
is at least seven years old."   
" Nobody should be able to exist in two places   
at once," the man said. Uranus suddenly snarled in   
disgust and took three long steps backwards.   
" It's gone!" she shouted suddenly, looking to   
her right. " The Talisman!"   
" She's not here!" the guard's voice rang out   
over the radio. " He swears that she was there not   
ten minutes ago when he turned down the lights, Your   
Majesty." Neptune and Uranus traded glances, and   
Neptune pulled out the Deep Aqua Mirror. The brunette   
flung a hand up above her head and transformed into   
Jupiter.  
" Good idea," Serenity said and the crescent on   
her forehead burst into light. She joined hands with   
Mamoru for a moment and closed her eyes, only to have   
them snap open again in surprise.   
" Oh, dear," she exclaimed in astonishment. " She's   
at Pluto's gate." The two Outers and Jupiter were off   
like a shot, readying weapons and attacks as they left.   
" I know, Usako," Mamoru smiled in spite of the   
gravity of the situation. " I know you miss being able   
to fight with them like that." He held out his arm,   
which she gracefully took.   
" Sailor Moon is no more, Mamo-chan, but that   
doesn't mean I am helpless," she replied and called   
upon the enchantments they had woven into the castle   
to transport them to the corridor junction that led   
to the Gates of Time. They had been in casual clothes,   
but emerged in full regalia and prepared for anything.  
What they found was not anything they had   
expected. Jupiter stood there, gazing at the scene   
by the gates with a worried look on her face. The   
Space Sword loosely hung from Uranus' hand, and   
Neptune clutched her mirror in trembling hands like   
it was the only stable thing in her world. At their   
feet was the child, curled up in a ball as she slept   
with Pluto's Garnet Rod nestled in the crook of one   
of her arms.  
  
************************************************   
The man put down the radio and looked over   
at the three women. " Uranus says she only needs   
a few more minutes at the house."   
He walked back over to and sat next to his   
wife, whose attention was split between the other   
two couches on this side of the room at the top of   
the palace. One held Makoto and Michiru. The other   
held the child, who was still asleep thanks to a   
minor enchantment. While she was not going to wake   
up until Endymion canceled the spell, they still   
spoke quietly as if to not wake her.   
Ami was seated about ten meters away, diligently   
combing through the records they did have access   
to. With the main power plants and telephone lines   
being down due to the lack of trained people to run   
them, along with the other utilities like gas and   
water, they had little in the way of solid   
information on anyone right now.   
" I was here all evening," the blonde   
began. " There was no way anyone except one of   
us could have come up here in the first place. I   
was sitting not ten meters from the Talisman, and I   
didn't hear a thing."  
" Pluto's existence, like Saturn's, was never   
made common knowledge," Michiru added. " We still   
don't know how they knew about her disappearance,   
but the Black Moon tried to claim responsibility for   
defeating her. They didn't mention the Talismans,   
though. Nobody except us would have even known of   
the existence of the Talismans, let alone that one   
of them was here."  
" We denied Pluto as an unfounded rumor," Makoto   
pointed out. " Maybe someone decided that it was true?"   
" They still wouldn't have known about the   
Talisman, though," Michiru countered.  
" And, more importantly, how is it connected   
to her?" Mamoru quietly added, causing them to stop   
and think in silence until the radio beeped again. He   
teleported Uranus to the castle, ignoring the usual   
restrictions they had on that method of transport   
due to the sheer amount of power it took.   
" You're not going to like this," Uranus said   
and put a number of pictures and pieces of paper   
on the coffee table in front of them. She reversed   
her transformation and sat down next to Michiru in   
order to let her stomach adjust to the   
transit. Teleporting someone else and not   
themselves as well was a new power for the two   
monarchs and one they were not as skilled with yet.  
" Dear God in heaven," the Queen exclaimed   
as she picked up one of the framed pictures. "It's   
her. The hair is long enough in this picture so that   
you can see the green in it, and you can make out her   
eyes as well. I thought that they were red colored   
from the blood and not naturally red."  
" I can see why you made the mistake," Makoto   
agreed. " If you look at her eyes under a bright light,   
you can see that they are red, but I thought that they   
were brown as well when I saw you playing with her   
today."  
" School report card, tax forms, insurance   
paperwork," Michiru said, shifting through forms as she   
spoke. " All of them have the same name for the girl,   
and the oldest looks to be about four or five years   
old. If our Setsuna was planning this, she has been   
doing it for a long time. The birth certificate will   
probably match as well."   
" Three other families with the same name so   
far," Ami softly called out. " None have a member with   
her family and personal names, though. If this was   
intentional, Pluto might not be using the same name   
if she wanted to hide from us."   
" What I want to know is why she would feel that   
she should have to hide from us in the first   
place," Venus asked over the intercom. She and Mars   
were on watch tonight downstairs and listening   
in. " Why should she run away like that?"  
" She can't consider us a threat," Haruka   
pleaded with them. " She's been with us for almost   
nine years now, and six of those were while we were   
raising Hotaru. Our being a threat to her just doesn't   
make sense."  
" If we can agree that Pluto was not scared of   
us, or left because of us, then something happened   
that made her do this," Mamoru said. He looked around   
briefly. " If something could have scared her enough   
to make her renounce her duty and run, we should be   
terrified and rightly so."  
" I haven't had any premonitions of anything," Rei   
announced. " I don't think that I could have missed   
something of that magnitude." The doors to the elevator   
slid open.  
" If it isn't an enemy, and she doesn't consider   
us a threat, then perhaps we should be looking at what   
else might be an explanation, no matter how vague it   
is," Artemis offered as he walked in next to Luna, who   
was still looking pale even for a black cat.   
" Luna, you shouldn't be up," Serenity admonished   
her.  
" This is far more important than my rest,   
Usagi-chan," she replied. While the Senshi, Serenity   
and Endymion hadn't been affected by the poison gas,   
the same did not hold true for the two cats. Luna had   
been exposed to a whiff of the poison before the Queen   
had teleported them to safety.  
" If you weren't right I'd be mad at you," Usagi   
whispered into Luna's ear as she gingerly picked up   
the black cat and set her down on a pillow on the   
couch.   
" Luna, Artemis, is there anything that you   
can do to see if she is actually Sailor Pluto?" Michiru   
asked, voicing the question that they all had but were   
reluctant to ask.  
" I've never worked with the Outer Senshi   
before," Luna admitted. " I never knew you like I   
did the Inner Senshi back in the past during the   
Silver Millennium. I can't, but someone else here   
can," she added, looking over towards the Queen.  
" Me?" Usagi asked.   
" You're no longer Sailor Moon, Usako," Mamoru   
reminded her. " The Senshi of Mystery is no more, but   
you are still their Queen and ruler. The oaths that   
all of the Senshi swore to you and your mother still   
stand. If any of us can command her, it is you."   
" But should we do that to her? Do we have any   
right to bring her back like this ahead of her   
time?" Usagi asked. " We never became Senshi until   
we were in our teens. We had the chance to be normal,   
if only for a little while. She's only seven now. Is   
it fair to make her like us when she is so young?"  
" No, it isn't," Haruka grimly cut in before   
anyone else could say anything. " It isn't, but we   
don't have any choice. Chibi-usa needs to meet her   
when she is growing up."  
" You've always been one to make your own   
destiny, Haruka-san," Makoto said a moment later,   
her voice warm and caring, and with no hint of   
sarcasm. " Why surrender to fate now?"   
" Certain events in our future need to happen   
in order for our past to be like it was," Michiru   
answered. " If our Setsuna is gone, we have the right   
to know. If that girl is now the incarnation of Pluto,   
we need to know. As Haruka said, we don't have any   
choice, and we very likely won't have any until this   
is all wrapped up in the thirtieth century."   
"You're right, Michiru-san," Usagi agreed while   
standing up. " It may be a very long time until we can   
actually be free." Her clothes blurred away, leaving   
her in the dress she wore for formal court as Neo-Queen   
Serenity. She walked over to the girl, who still had   
the Garnet Rod resting in her arms.  
" Pluto?" she whispered. When there was no   
response after a minute, she gathered her will and   
used her power to gently send her words deep into the   
girl's mind, past the shroud of sleep that was   
Endymion's spell. " Pluto?" Serenity nudged aside   
the girl's conscious mind and sent her call far deeper,   
searching for some sign.   
A lavender glow winked back at her from deep,   
deep down; far deeper than she would ever dare go on   
her own for fear of being lost in the depths. It   
stuttered once, twice, then became a tiny light like   
a candle seen across an open field at the top of a   
lonely tower on a cold, clear night. A wind began to   
blow, making her aware of its awesome power, but she   
felt no fear of it in her house behind stout windows   
as she looked outside. The light gave her a feeling of   
hope and security, like it had always looked over her   
and protected her.   
" Usako?" she heard her love's voice from a great   
distant away, but it exerted an irresistible hold on   
her as she suddenly became aware of being back in the   
room with the others again. " Usa?" Mamoru asked again   
as he tried to see if she was all right.   
" Mamo-chan?" she asked, and grabbed at his hands   
for stability and comfort, still feeling the effects of   
the vision. " What happened?"   
" That," he replied and inclined his head towards   
the couch and the sleeping child. She still had not   
woken up, but now the sigil of Pluto faintly glimmered   
upon her brow. A corresponding faint light now shone   
inside the Garnet Orb.   
" She is Pluto," Usagi gasped, and sharply swung   
her head towards the two Outer Senshi as she heard a   
muffled sob.   
" We have to go," Haruka said, her voice   
thick. " We died as a result of the last battle. It   
was an aftereffect of the poison gas. You found us   
dead, and had a private service."   
" What are you talking about?" the Queen nearly   
shouted. " You aren't dead, and you are not leaving."   
" I think I finally understand it now,   
Usagi-chan," Michiru gently explained, her heart   
breaking. " Pluto died after the Silver Millennium   
was over, just like the rest of us. We were all   
reincarnated in the late seventies, but not her. This   
is Pluto's first reincarnation, not her second."   
" First?" Ami burst in. " How could it be her   
first one now?"   
" We were all there when she died in the   
future," Mamoru said and wiped away a tear from   
one eye. " And she told us what had happened when   
we first saw her in this time. She was reincarnated   
in the past, around when we were all being reincarnated   
the first time, but it was by Neo-Queen Serenity,   
doing it from the future."   
" You mean that she saw this coming   
and... " Makoto's voice trailed off  
" She's caught in a loop!" Ami blurted,   
and then blushed at her outburst.   
" Oh, no," Usagi gasped, her hands going   
up to cover her face. " She's doomed to keep on   
repeating this over and over?"  
" It is the only answer that fits all of the   
evidence," Mamoru pointed out.   
" It doesn't matter," Haruka coldly said,   
pitching her voice loudly enough to get everyone's   
attention.   
" Haruka!" Makoto shouted. " You said it   
yourself. She's like your sister. How can you say   
something like that?"   
" She never knew us in her future," Michiru   
said in a voice that gave no room for debate. " She   
knew exactly what she was saying to us when she told   
Chibi-Moon what had happened to her. Pluto was too smart   
to have foolishly said anything about time.  
" She also," Michiru tried to go on, but her voice   
broke.  
"She also said once that she had never met us   
before in her past, and we know that her past is going   
to be our future," Haruka finished. " We cannot stay."   
" Haruka, don't-" Usagi began but was stopped   
when the tall woman quickly stepped forward and hugged   
her.   
" We can't risk changing anything,   
odango-chan," she tried to explain in a warm,   
gentle voice. " You get the future that you've   
seen. Humanity gets to come back. Death Phantom   
gets stopped and permanently killed.  
" Sure, it isn't easy for some of us, but Pluto   
does get six years of being happy. Six years of having   
a family that loves her. Don't take that from her,   
Usagi-san."  
" This isn't a good-bye, not just yet," Michiru   
added. She scribbled down an address on a piece of   
paper. " To everyone else, including your daughter,   
and most importantly, her," she pointed over to the   
sleeping girl. " To all of them we are dead and   
buried. Don't make us heroes or they'll remember   
our faces even more. No statues and no memorials. We   
did our duty, and that is all.   
" To all of you, though, we aren't dead," she   
went on. " We'll be at that address for a few days   
until we figure out some more long range plans. It's   
close enough to the edge that nobody is going to go   
poking around out there."  
" Can we come and visit?" Usagi asked, her   
voice still muffled from her continuing to cling   
to Haruka. The taller woman laughed.   
" Of course, baka. Do you think we want to be   
alone for a thousand years?" she asked with a faint   
smile playing around the corners of her   
mouth. " Whenever you need us, we'll always   
be there for you. We need to leave now, though. It   
will be easier to vanish at night." Michiru came   
over to give Usagi a brief hug as well before they   
left, slipping away from the Palace under the cover   
of night. It would be such a long time until they   
were again seen by the general population of   
Crystal Tokyo that they soon passed into legend   
once more.   
  
************************************************  
  
  
Epilogue  
  
  
" They're gone," Endymion said and put an arm   
around her shoulders as she stood and looked over the   
ruin that had been the throne room of the Crystal   
Palace. The energies flung around as Dimando took   
both the Crystal of the present and the past had   
been considerable.   
" Did I ever look like that, Endymion?" Serenity   
asked softly. " Her face was so innocent, and filled   
with so much hope. It was like I was looking into a   
mirror and seeing a stranger."   
" You know why as well as I do," he   
replied. " Mamoru looked so young. I don't blame   
you for being so surprised."  
The patter of running feet reached them a   
moment before their daughter did as she slid around   
the corner. Small Lady looked physically rested, but   
the thin veneer of composure broke as soon as she   
saw Pluto's body still lying on the floor. She fell   
to her knees next to the woman and began to cry.   
Serenity glanced back at her Senshi and nodded   
faintly, dismissing them. The girl had a night's   
worth of sleep in the past, but for them the battle   
had been won only a few minutes ago. All four of   
them were still very tired, and there was going to   
be much to do tomorrow as they began their work to   
rebuild their city a second time. The Queen had   
restored much of the physical damage, but they knew   
from experience that many things still needed to be   
done.   
" I'm so sorry, Mama," the girl blurted and   
wrapped her arms around her mother's knees as Serenity   
went to stand by her. " This was all my fault. Pluto's   
dead because I wanted to be like you and took your   
Crystal."   
" That is true," Serenity replied as she sat   
down and pulled her daughter in for a badly needed   
hug. " But you do realize that you made a mistake,   
which is the most important part of learning what   
is right and wrong. You also were very brave when   
you went back to try and get help for me."   
" She was," Chibi-usa began and stopped. " You   
were... this is all very confusing to talk about,   
Mama," she admitted with a slight blush. " I never   
knew that you were the same Sailor Moon that Papa   
told me stories of."   
" We saw what you two did together," her father   
said as he kneeled down next to them. " You fought   
very well earlier, Small Lady. You have made some   
very good progress towards becoming a fine lady. Even   
though you made some mistakes, you were strong,   
too. I'm proud of you."   
" As am I," her mother added. " You still   
have a long ways to go, however, and this is not   
the best place for you to learn to become a Sailor   
Senshi. I know just who you need to learn it from."   
" Who?" the girl sniffled, glancing down and   
seeing her friend's body. There was apparently a lot   
more to being a Sailor Senshi than she had thought.  
"Me, of course," her mother giggled, bringing   
a smile to her daughter's face despite the girl's   
sadness.   
You, Mama?" she said, not believing her until   
the other possibility sank in. " You mean I'd go back   
there?"  
" Yes," Serenity smiled. " I happen to know that   
there is a girl back there named Tsukino Usagi who   
really misses you right now, and I think that you miss   
her as well."   
" I sort of do," she admitted almost   
reluctantly. The queen gave her a steady look   
until she shook her head and blushed. " Okay, I   
do miss her."   
" In that case, we shouldn't keep you here   
too much longer," her father observed with a wry   
smile and magically transported a certain pad of   
paper and a pen to his hand. He handed these to his   
wife. She grinned, scribbled a brief note and handed   
it to her daughter.   
" This is for your father and myself," Serenity   
explained and reached down to unhook one of the keys   
from the chain around Pluto's waist. She closed her   
eyes a moment to tell it where to send the girl and   
exchanged it for the one her daughter had been   
using. " And that will get you there and back to   
home."   
" I'll miss you," Chibi-usa began to say, but   
Endymion cut her off with a finger placed across her   
lips.   
" You'll be with us the entire time,   
Chibi-usa. Remember?" he asked and gave her a wry   
smile. She nodded and hugged them both before   
calling upon the power of the key.   
" Once more into the breach," the man said,   
quoting an old play, and then stood up and stretched   
before helping his wife to her feet. " We've still   
got a few more things to do today, but here is   
probably not the best place."  
" You're right," she acknowledged. She leaned   
down a moment to hook the key back onto Pluto's belt   
and to pick up the staff the tall woman had   
borne. Endymion picked up Pluto's body and they   
made their way to a private elevator that would   
take them to the royal apartments high up in the   
building. Once there, they went to the sitting room   
at the top of the tower since Pluto had loved the   
view as long as they had known her.  
" Do you feel up to this, love?" he asked as   
he put Pluto down on one of the couches. " This is   
well beyond anything that you have ever done before."   
" I have to do this, Endy-chan," she   
murmured. We're almost free of the past, but   
not just yet."   
" There's just sending our daughter to the   
past a few more times," he replied. " I still worry   
about her, even if we know what happened."   
" It will all work out, or at least that is   
what I tell myself," Serenity admitted. She walked   
over to the couch and looked down at the   
Senshi. " Except for her. She gets a few years   
of being happy in return for a lifetime of duty."   
" No, it isn't much of a reward, but it is   
all she seems to get," he agreed. " I don't want   
to rush you, but I think we should send her back   
now. I know that it won't speed the process up, but   
she deserves her time after what she did for us."   
" Maybe it won't matter to her, but it will   
matter to us," she said and sat down next to the   
woman, the Garnet Rod resting on her lap. She   
affectionately brushed a few strands of the long,   
dark hair away from the woman's face.   
" Be careful," he cautioned her, taking a   
seat on the edge of the table. She grinned back   
at him somewhat lopsidedly.   
" Who do you think taught her how to use her   
powers?" she retorted. " I was the only one she   
trusted at first."   
" And you did a good job," he complimented   
her, recalling her patience with the young girl so   
many years ago. She was scared of the reputation of   
the other Senshi at first, but the Queen had her   
trust and had guided the young Pluto as she learned   
her power and the responsibilities of her office. " I   
wasn't referring to the time travel, though."   
" The time travel doesn't worry me, either," she   
agreed. " Pluto was far more skilled than I at the   
process of moving something through time, but I have   
much more power than she does. Maybe I won't be as   
subtle as she, but I can get that to work without any   
problems.   
" But reincarnation," she sighed as she shook   
her head. " This is one of those things that makes me   
wonder just where is the dividing line between sheer   
power and mere divinity."   
Serenity closed her eyes and called upon her   
power, feeling it flow from the Crystal at her   
command. Endymion supported her, channeling his own   
energy to her, and they effortlessly linked together   
after so many years of practice. She felt a wash of   
concern and reassurance from him before he withdrew to   
watch over her as she worked, leaving her with all the   
power to work with on her own.   
She slowly infused it into the woman's body,   
healing the massive damage done to her body as Pluto   
had stopped the natural flow of time. Then she looked   
for and restored the link between the body and the spirit   
of the deceased Senshi. After making sure that the two   
were now firmly bound together like they should have   
been, she then expanded her viewpoint to include the   
Garnet Orb.  
Her perceptions spiraled back using the Orb and   
the staff as a focus, seeking out the moment of her   
own birth as a point of reference and then looking   
slightly before that moment. She skipped past the   
odd disruption right before her, knowing it to be   
the miko's, and looked further back. The next two   
were a little over a year sooner, and so closely   
linked as to almost be one. They were not what she   
was looking for.   
Nor was the one beyond that, the pattern of her   
love clear to her despite the unfamiliarity of what   
she was doing. The one she sought was cleverly hidden   
among the minor variables of the time stream, and she   
congratulated herself as she saw how well she had done   
what she was going to do. Paradox held no sway over her   
in this realm.   
" Go, dear sister," she implored the spirit she   
was safeguarding. " Go to your reward, and I am so   
sorry that we cannot give you all you deserve."   
Serenity smiled as it drifted forward and into   
that faint ripple. They merged in a shimmer of violet   
light and a child's first cry. She stepped backwards in   
her mind, beginning the process of returning to her   
normal time, pausing only to cast a quick glance at the   
disturbance around her daughter. It was only the normal   
interference due to her being from a different time than   
the one she was born in, but it still worried her because   
she knew what the poor girl was going to have to endure.   
She blinked as the room came back into focus and   
she saw her husband sitting there with a worried look on   
his face. " What happened?" she exclaimed, suddenly   
realizing that she was alone on the couch.   
" Her body vanished about a half an hour ago," he   
replied and looked intently at her to make sure that she   
was all right.   
" It only felt like a few minutes," she   
admitted. " I forgot how long it can sometimes   
take me. I never got much of a chance to practice   
using this," she said and motioned to the staff she   
still held.   
" I'm assuming that it went well," Endymion   
said, a question despite his not phrasing at one.   
" It did," she answered him. She yawned and   
changed her clothes to something more casual and   
comfortable. " I broke a lot of rules today, but I am   
two for two so far."   
" Two?" he wondered, and changed as well before   
sitting next to her and putting an arm around her.   
" I met myself when the two of us aren't supposed   
to even exist in the same time frame as each other," she   
explained. " And I was able to reincarnate Pluto in the   
past."   
" Was it hard?"   
" It was surprisingly easy," she said and   
giggled. " With the Garnet Orb and Rod a lot of the   
problems due to paradox don't even apply..." she went   
on, but her voice trailed off as she suddenly got a   
very serious look on her face.   
" Paradox!" she shrieked. Serenity broke away from   
his arms and sprang to her feet, turning a cartwheel in   
sheer delight and ending up a few meters away from   
him. The staff of Pluto's that she still held on to   
through the maneuver began to glow. Her own staff   
appeared in her other hand.   
" Paradox doesn't apply!" she laughed and spun   
around, happily smiling. Both staffs were triumphantly   
thrust into the air as her clothed melted into the white   
gown she was wearing a few minutes ago. The crescent on   
her forehead burst into a nova of golden light that   
nearly blinded the man. " I know what to do!"   
" Usako!" he yelled, seeing her gathering her   
power and becoming worried. Mars burst through the   
door to the room, having sensed the disturbance. The   
other three Senshi were only a step behind.   
" I'm going for three for three!" they heard the   
Queen yell amid the light as the white of the Crystal   
shone over that of the Garnet Orb or her crescent. " I   
have to try, Mamo-chan. She deserves no less after   
nine hundred years. This will not be a day for   
sorrow! Today will be a day of joy!"   
They screamed as the light and pressure   
increased a hundredfold, forcing them to back away   
from her. Windows shattered, the crystal and glass   
flung away from the building. Its supports sheared   
away, the peaked roof over this topmost portion of   
the Palace began to collapse on them, only to be   
thrown aside in a contemptuous display of blue and   
yellow power that only the people in the city around   
them could see.  
The winds above Crystal Tokyo now could reach   
them and whipped the long hair of Venus and Mars   
around. Endymion's cape fluttered madly in that same   
wind as he began to gather his own power. Mercury and   
Jupiter grabbed him to keep him from charging forward   
as the maelstrom of power rippled and seethed.   
With a loud pop it vanished, leaving a tired but   
grinning blonde standing there, leaning heavily upon   
the two staffs for support as she panted. At her feet,   
a tall woman in a white and black fuku began to stir   
and look around at the others in the room.   
" Pluto?" Endymion stammered and hesitantly moved   
forward. Out of habit, he veered towards his wife, but   
the silver scabbard of the Space Sword flew out of the   
darkness and tripped him up so that he landed next to   
Pluto, who grinned and threw her arms around him.   
" She hasn't seen you for a long time,   
Mamoru-kun," a familiar voice drawled from the   
shadows as two women stepped forward.   
" Give her a hug. You just saw your wife a   
few minutes ago," another added in an amused tone.   
" I see," Pluto chuckled and hugged him even   
tighter." The moment you decide to fall into my arms   
just happens to be after I've gotten over you."   
" Uranus! Neptune!" the Queen shrieked and   
abandoned all semblance of restraint as she ran to   
the two and tried to hug both of them at once. " Where   
have you been? We haven't seen you two for centuries!"  
Endymion blushed and helped Pluto to her feet as   
the other two Outers came to her. The others clustered   
around, having missed these three for a long time as   
well. Pluto simultaneously embraced them.   
" Hotaru-chan?" she whispered as they   
hugged. Uranus sadly shook her head.   
" She's still in her coma from the last   
fight," Neptune said.   
" When are we, anyway?" Pluto asked, glancing   
around. She looked about briefly and saw the three   
massive, jagged shards of the Black Crystal that   
Black Lady had slammed into the earth around the   
palace. " Right after I stopped time?"   
" Pluto, did you know about what Serenity   
would do?" Mercury asked, trying to figure out what   
was happening and what had happened.  
" Quiet!" the Queen yelled, getting their   
attention. She was smiling broadly as she leaned   
against her husband for support. " We will continue   
this discussion inside, and that is an order."  
" Certainly, Your Majesty," Venus grinned and   
bowed with an exaggerated flourish. She reversed her   
transformation at the end of it, so that it was Minako   
who stood up straight and pulled her nightgown more   
tightly around her. " It is pretty chilly up here," she   
admitted and made for the stairs. The others followed   
and closed the doors in their wake, shutting off the   
blustery wind.   
It only took a few more minutes to change and meet   
in one of the smaller sitting rooms right off of the   
Royal bedroom. Michiru had tea started, easily finding   
things since the palace had not been changed since she   
was last there almost nine hundred years ago.   
" To answer your question, Ami-chan," Setsuna   
began from her spot in between Haruka and Michiru on   
one small couch. " No, I didn't know what she was   
going to do, but I had faith that she would figure   
it out some day. When she opened the doorway through   
time for me and ordered me to follow her, I figured   
she had her reasons. I left the Garnet Rod like she   
said and followed her."   
" So you didn't kill yourself!" Makoto   
gasped. " We thought that you knew what was going   
to happen and had made sure that there were not two   
of you in the same time."   
" Killed myself?" Setsuna replied and laughed   
softly. " Good heavens! No, I wouldn't have killed   
myself. To me this is still a Thursday and about ten   
minutes ago I was trying to figure out a pattern to   
what the Black Moon was doing."   
" A week before the attack," Rei added. " So   
we found out that you were gone almost right after   
you had left."  
" But there would have been two of you in the   
past, Setsuna-san," Ami began to protest. " Actually,   
there were two of you at the same time. Four days   
after the attack we found out you were Pluto, so   
technically there were two of you existing at the   
same point in time."   
" About a week after you were brought forward,   
Setsuna-san, the Black Moon attacked us in   
force," Endymion explained. " Three days after   
that, a young girl was found who had survived, and   
she eventually took the position of Sailor Pluto."   
" Is that so?" the tall woman mused. " My   
earliest memories were of the Queen being so nice   
to me, and that I was important to her. I don't   
remember any attack from when I was a little   
girl. I don't even remember who my parents   
where. There was only the King and the Queen   
looking after me, and all of you."   
" Perhaps it is because there was only one   
Sailor Pluto at any one time," Michiru   
offered. " There were two Meiou Setsuna's,   
but only one Pluto."   
" That may very well be it," Setsuna   
replied and looked at the two women sitting next   
to her. " Thank you for remembering what I said   
about our not having met before."   
" Yeah, where have you two been?" Minako   
asked. " We haven't seen you since you left the   
Tokyo area."   
" We went to America after it was thawed   
out," Michiru said. " We stayed with a friend   
there at first and bounced around for a while   
after that." Haruka chuckled suddenly and draped   
an arm over Setsuna's shoulders.   
" Somebody here was too inquisitive for our   
liking, and far too clever. We didn't want to risk   
anything by having her find out about us. The same   
went for Chibi-usa-chan, so we stayed away from   
Crystal Tokyo."   
" How did you get here so quickly after the   
attack, though?" Makoto asked. " The Black Moon had   
the city cut off from the outside."   
" We have our ways," Haruka smiled and then   
started in surprise as Michiru reached up and pinched   
her arm.  
" Our castles give us a limited degree of   
teleportation," Michiru explained. " And we had a   
few spots in the palace made into teleport locations. We   
spent most of the last few days hiding in and around the   
palace grounds in case you needed us."   
" When did I design those into the   
palace?" Endymion asked, trying to remember such a   
request by them.   
" Ever since you gave Usagi-chan the plans to the   
Crystal Palace the night before you two actually built   
it," Michiru slyly grinned. " And ever since Usagi-chan   
asked me to hold on to them until the next morning."  
Endymion suddenly chuckled and held out a hand to   
keep anyone from saying anything. Serenity was already   
asleep with her head resting on his shoulder.   
" Good night, everyone, and we are delighted to   
see you again," he whispered and nodded at the three   
Outers. He gently picked her up and carried her off   
to bed and the sleep she needed after doing so much   
today.   
" He's got the right idea," Minako said and came   
over to hug the newcomers before bidding them good   
night. " I'm about to fall over myself. I'll see you   
in the morning and we can work everything out." Rei   
and Makoto did the same and excused themselves.   
" Ami-chan, have you moved her in the last   
several hours?" Michiru asked as the blue-haired   
woman rose to her feet. " We'd like to go down   
there and see her."   
" Were you two behind those roses I'd find   
down there?" she asked in reply.   
" That was us," Haruka answered. " We have a   
few secret passages as well, so we slipped in to visit   
Hotaru every couple of years."   
" I thought it was Endymion-sama, but I never   
questioned him on it," she said and smiled. " She's   
still there in the same room."   
" Thank you for everything you've done for her,   
Ami-chan," Michiru smiled back.   
" Shall we?" Haruka said after Ami had left. She   
rose to her feet and helped the other two women up.  
" You said she's in a coma, right?" Setsuna   
asked as they waited for the elevator to arrive. At   
their nods, she unexpectedly smiled and put her arms   
around them when the doors opened. " We've got all   
three Talismans here, and the three people who do   
know how to use them and know each other.  
" Let's go see if we can wake her up," Setsuna   
said and ushered them into the waiting car. " It's   
only been a little while and I already miss being   
apart from my family."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
The End.   
  
  
  
  
************************************************  
  
  
Japanese terms   
  
baka - fool, idiot  
ne - an article added to a sentence to make it a   
question. it is used much like 'eh' is   
used in English   
ara - an article added to the front of a sentence  
in this case. it is used much like 'oh'  
is in English  
miko - shrine maiden  
hime-chan - used as a pet name for Hotaru. 'hime'  
means princess   
hai - an affirmative response  
kawaii - cute  
bento - a boxed lunch  
natto - a dish made from fermented soybeans, often   
served in mustard  
JSDF - Japanese Self Defence Forces  
shimatta - a curse word, but literally means  
'closed'  
  
  
  
  
  
All characters are copyrights of the respective holders.  
Please send comments, etc. to the above e-mail address.  
  
Special thanks to the following...  
  
Naoko Takeuchi, of course.  
incredible characters, and artwork that can   
give rise to so many ideas from a few little   
drawings.   
  
Luna and Artemis for kind words, support, and being   
good friends for so long. through good times and   
bad, they have been there.   
check out their page at  
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9897/  
for the best Sailor Moon fan-fiction collection.  
  
Greenbeans for being herself. all I need to say,   
really.   
check out her page at  
http://www.kfalls.net/~gbeans  
  
Jackie Chiang, sage advice, good fics and general   
silliness that lightens the spirit.   
check out her page at  
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/3741/   
  
Alex Glover for his wonderful work on the manga   
of Naoko Takeuchi.   
check out his page at  
http://www.nwlink.com/~kurozuki/manga.htm  
  
my wonderful betas, the real heroes  
  
Erica  
Shelley  
Helen Szeto aka Lennie  
Pandora Diane Waldron  
Nikki Purvis aka JetWolf  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Advent {1/1}  
  
  
  



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